Trojans hold off Warriors, 57-53, in Class B semis
FREDONIA – For as formidable as it had been all season – 17 victories, a league co-championship, 12 wins by 15 points or more – the Salamanca girls basketball team also possessed the propensity to come back.
Indeed, in their season-opener on Dec. 2, the Warriors, shorthanded at the time, somehow roared back from a 30-point halftime deficit against Randolph to pull to within 50-49 in the waning minutes.
Nearly three months later, they rallied in a similar fashion.
After falling into an early 20-point hole and trailing by 16 (39-23) at halftime, Salamanca stormed back to within two points of league rival Southwestern late in Saturday afternoon’s Section 6 Class B semifinal showdown at SUNY Fredonia.
On that December night at home, however, Salamanca couldn’t quite complete the comeback. And on Saturday at Fredonia University’s Dods Hall, the Warriors suffered the same fate.
GIANNA SIRIANNI scored 18 points, including a pair of dagger crunch time 3-pointers, as the second-seeded Trojans – in this rubber match between co-CCAA I league champions – held on for a 57-53 triumph.
With Class B’s No. 1 seed, Olmsted, falling in the quarterfinals and No. 8 Eden making a run to the sectional championship game, both the Trojans and Warriors had a chance to enter next week as the team to beat. Alas, it’s Southwestern which will meet Eden in next Thursday’s title contest back at SUNY Fredonia. Salamanca, meanwhile, came up just a bit short in its quest for a second-straight sectional crown.
“Yeah, tough pill to swallow,” said Salamanca coach Joe Hinman, whose third-seeded Warriors still finished 17-6, captured their first league title in six years and reached at least the sectional semis for the third year in a row, “but we knew it was going to be a war going in with Southwestern; (it is) every time we play each other.
“It just kind of felt like we ran out of gas late, or kind of ran out of time. We fought, though. I have a lot to be proud of with the girls.”
FOR SALAMANCA, at least early on, the issue was turnovers.
The Trojans turned those into an early 23-12 advantage and that 16-point lead at halftime.
“Southwestern’s a quick team,” Hinman said, “so we struggled with that aspect of matching up with them. But yeah, just some unforced turnovers. They were jumping our passes and getting into the passing lanes and just executing off some easy ones. It’s hard to keep up with a team after you spot them 20 points off simple mistakes that we’re not usually making, especially this late in the season.”
But the Warriors DID find a way to keep up.
Flipping the script, Salamanca limited the Trojans to just two third-quarter points to pull to within two possessions (41-35) entering the fourth quarter. It outscored Southwestern 30-18 for the half. And much like the Randolph game, it found itself right there down the stretch, rallying to within two points with under four minutes remaining.
Sirianni, though, responded with a big 3 to push the lead back to five, and the Trojans maintained that cushion from there.
“It was kind of a tale of two halves, where we kind of reversed the roles,” Hinman said. “Now we were forcing turnovers and deflections and executing off their mistakes. But they made eight 3s and we had one. At the end of the day, those shots are big down the stretch, and they just made a few more than we did.”
Jada Edwards scored a game-high 19 points, Charlotte Beaver added 13 points and the two combined to hit five treys for Southwestern (16-7). In addition to the early giveaways and the Trojans’ sharpshooting, Salamanca was also hampered by foul trouble … and those aforementioned shooting struggles.
“Kynleigh Wass, who was assigned (to guard) Sirianni – my toughest defender – fouled out toward the end; we didn’t have her the last two minutes,” Hinman noted. “That was a challenge playing without her. And we couldn’t really get Ella Crouse going (Crouse poured in 25 points in a quarterfinal win over Allegany-Limestone but was limited to four points against Southwestern).
“We just couldn’t find the deep ball. It was tough. You hit one or two more of those shots, maybe it’s a different game.”
MALIYAH FOSTER totaled 15 points, including a 9-of-10 effort at the free throw line, and six rebounds while Makenzie Crouse notched 10 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors. Ella Crouse still added six rebounds, three assists and three steals and Liana Jimerson chipped in nine points. Salamanca offset its one trey by finishing an impressive 18-of-25 at the stripe.
Though they fell short of claiming back-to-back Class B sectional titles, the Warriors could take solace in the fact that, over the last three years, they’ve won 17, 18 and 17 games, reached a Far West Regional, won a CCAA I championship … and nearly battled all the way back from 20 points down, away from home, on Saturday.
“It was just kind of checking off some boxes,” assessed Hinman, under whom Salamanca has clearly elevated as a program over the last half-decade. “Last year, it seemed like we were ahead of schedule with the sectional title … but we were able to get that share of a league title this year. (But) obviously, we want more, and our girls know that too.
“We’re young enough and there’s a lot of room to grow, but I’m just incredibly proud of the way we handled today. We never backed down, and I knew going into halftime that this game was far from over; we’re a really resilient group, and we have that bend-but-don’t-break mentality every time we get in a hole.”
He added, “Our seniors – Charli (Ross), Kenzie (Crouse) and Leilene (McComber) – led the way with their leadership and toughness. We’re so incredibly thankful to them for helping us to build this team and program over the last 3-5 years.”
(Courtesy of J.P. Butler as a special to the Olean Star)
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AT FREDONIA
Salamanca (53)
E. Crouse 1 2-4 4, Wass 4 0-0 8, M. Crouse 3 4-4 10, Jimerson 3 2-5 9, Foster 3 9-10 15, Ross 1 0-1 2, Reynolds 2 1-1 5. Totals: 17 18-25 53.
Southwestern (57)
G. Sirianni 6 3-6 18, Cresanti 2 2-4 6, B. Beaver 0 1-2 1, Edwards 8 1-4 19, C. Beaver 5 0-0 13. Totals: 21 7-16 57.
Salamanca 12 23 35 53
Southwestern 23 39 41 57
Three-point goals: Sala. 1 (Jimerson); SW 8 (Sirianni 3, Edwards 2, C. Beaver 3). Total fouls: Sala 16, SW 23. Fouled out: Wass (Sala), B. Beaver (SW), C. Beaver (SW).
